Gov. Chris Christie said he planned to vote yes on the referendum
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie has said he would vote for the nonbinding referendum for legalizing professional sports wagers. However, he has said if the referendum does not pass, he will not pursue the issue.TRENTON — At the Giants game last weekend, a fan told Gov. Chris Christie he enjoyed the lopsided victory, though the team didn’t cover the spread and "blew his parlay."
In laymen’s terms, as the governor well knew, the fan admitted he lost his wager.
Betting on sports teams in New Jersey is illegal, but a nonbinding referendum on next Tuesday’s ballot will ask voters if they want to allow wagering on professional teams.
It’s the first step in a long process that legislators hope will bring sports wagering to New Jersey in an effort to help Atlantic City’s financially ailing casinos — which would oversee the operations — bring in more revenue.
Christie said he planned to vote yes on the referendum, but added that if voters defeated the measure, the issue of sports betting in New Jersey would be dead as far as he was concerned.
"I’ve told folks I’m going to vote yes,’’ Christie told a group of reporters in Jersey City on Wednesday. "I think it’s important for New Jersey to have this option and I don’t think it’s fair it’s restricted to just a few states. Gaming is surrounding us everywhere."
New Jersey is one of 46 states prohibited from betting on sports under the 1992 federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.
When the federal ban was enacted it allowed states that already had some form of sports wagering to keep it, and gave those with casino gambling for at least 10 years — a provision tailored for New Jersey — the chance to approve it. But those efforts were defeated in the state Legislature.
The referendum next week would legalize betting at casinos, racetracks and former racetrack sites, but prohibit wagering on college sporting events that take place in New Jersey or on New Jersey college teams wherever they play.
Last year, Christie refused to join a lawsuit filed by legislators and gambling advocates challenging the ban, a position not lost on U.S. District Judge Garrett Brown, who dismissed the case in March because the state itself did not initiate the suit.
But now Christie says the state is taking the appropriate route with the referendum first, followed by legislation and then a new lawsuit to overturn the federal ban on behalf of the state.
If the measure is approved — and in a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll last month 52 percent of respondents favored legalizing sports betting — Christie said he would meet with the referendum’s lead proponent, state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union).
Lesniak said he expects the referendum to pass, though he acknowledged there hasn’t been much of a push to get voters out on this issue.
"It’s just a first step," Lesniak said. "It will enable us to go into court and challenge the constitutionality of the ban."
Proponents of sports betting have said New Jersey is missing out on millions of dollars in potential revenue to offshore operations, organized crime and to the four states — Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana — where some form of sports wagering in permitted.
The National Football League, which has long opposed the expansion of sports betting, is opposed to the referendum. And Arnie Wexler, a former head of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, said legalizing it would create more addicts, particularly among minors.
"When you add new or expanded gambling, you get more people to try it. Then you get more people addicted.’’ said Wexler, a reformed gambling addict who has devoted his life to helping other addicts.
Lesniak said draft legislation legalizing sports betting includes a provision designating a percentage of revenue to addiction services.
Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Essex), a member of the Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Gaming Committee, said passage of the referendum would be "symbolic because we still have the legal issue we have to deal with."
Christopher Baxter/The Star-Ledger contributed to this report.